Welcome To a New Era

Hello everyone. Exciting times at the isoChronal Panic! offices. While Alpha testing was supposed to start last Monday, we found a bit of a bug in the code and decided to hold off a bit before releasing it. We just recently squashed that bug and are polishing things up for the Alpha release later this week. In the mean time I have some more art to show you, and it offers a tantalizing look at how we are going to handle the concept of levels in the game.

Eagle eyed players out there may have spotted that the two computers in the test level are looking a bit older and spottier than they used to. What happened to the polished machines we saw several art updates ago? Don't worry, they're still around, in fact they're even in the game, if you don't know what I'm talking about have a look at the images below:



An old computer console. Looked kind of out of place with the high-tech door and containment force-field in the current level.




An old reel-to-real relay computer, those things are ancient. What is this the 1960's?

 At first we sort of wanted the time period Dan Guymore was in ambiguous, hence the old computers mixed with advanced technologies. But then when we got more into the particulars of our timestream we decided we needed to be more exact with where (or more accurately when) Dan Guymore was in the timeline. Eventually we decided that the two computers were old relics maintained out of nostalgia by the guys working in the time lab, but recently upkeep had been neglected for whatever reason.

So if the two computers are old relics now, that must mean they were once top of the line back in there day. That sort of gave us the idea of having various objects serve as ongoing threads between different era's. To that end, we remade the lab into it's 1960's digs. Here have a look:

 

Nice shag carpeting.

Nice huh? Let's have a look at each of the elements up close. Of course I'm going to skip over the stuff we've seen already.

Anyhow, we wanted to acheive three things with the differences in artwork between eras. First and foremost we wanted to show how objects change between eras. Somethings like the pipes and vents are pretty constant between this era and the previous one, but other things have changed. For instance:



Chemicals are chemicals now matter what time period you're in, glass beakers work no matter what year it is. Much more fickle are the whims of interior design. The modern industrial gray desk just doesn't fit with the sensibilities of the 60's, so we introduced this jazzy little teak desk design to spice things up.

Same goes for the office desk. The paper trays are strickly functional, but the desk is now a lot more decorative.

Notice anything weird about the skyline just now? It might be hard to see against the white background, so I'll enlarge the image for you.



See the crane in this one? It's adding the finishing touches to the Space Needle, also the skyline in general has shrunk relative to the more built up skyline of the previous era. Just wait until you see both of them in game, then you'll see what I'm talking about.



Our desk jockies still need someplace to sit. Instead of that purely functional chair from the modern era, we now have a little more fun with an oak roll chair. Granted rolling chairs weren't common in the 60's, but we figure these guys are ahead of their time as far as technology goes, for obvious reasons.

Another one of the themes we wanted to drive home with the art is the idea of finding different solutions for the same problem. We use this theme not only because we have to find a way for the past era's to experiment on and hold the Timetanium with fewer technologicakl resources than the era preceding them, but also because we want to encourage players to find different ways to solve the same puzzle of getting the Timetanium to the portal in different ways. Here are a few examples:


The researchers in the 60's don't have the benefit of having sliding steel blastdoors on hand to secure the room, so they're going to have to make due with a stout oak door instead.

 

Whereas before we had the Chrono-Bowler blueprints tacked up onto the wall, in the 60's era all that's on hand is a chalk board. This doesn't so much show the difference in technology between the different era's (I'm pretty sure they still drew blue-prints back in the 1960's), but rather how far along the development of the Chrono-Bowler was. Having the designs and formulas being up on a chalk board gives the impression that this is all kind of theoretical at this point. Although from the looks of things, they've come through with some kind of breakthrough just recently.

Each era is going to have to deal with the problem of how to keep the Timetanium secure, (and fail at it since Dan get's away with the loot every time). The high-tech magnetic field from the previous era isn't going to cut it here in the 1960's. This contraption is one part nuclear core, one part isolation chamber, and one part diving bell.

Finally we also wanted to use the items in each era to sort of tell the story of how the world came to be, why something was made, and who made it. Let's look at the objects that tell the story of the game world:


Here we sort of see the origin of the Chrono-Bowler. The nameless mad genius who invented the Chrono-Bowler which Dan uses in his history spanning crime spree was apparently known to wear a Bowler himself. Although the inventor himself isn't really important to the plot as a whole, we thought we'd leave traces of him throughout the level.

With this poster, we get a hint at why the Chrono-Bowler was created, or at least begin to understand the setiments of its creator. Perhaps the Chrono-Bowler was meant as an instrument of peace, and the inventor wanted to use the wonderous creation to bring us all together? Or maybe he's just reflecting the attitudes of his time. Who knows?

The display case doesn't so much explain a lot about the Chrono-Bowler's inventor, but rather it will provide another thread between eras. I haven't add some elements to this official release yet because I didn't want to spoil things before we get there, but this case will hold a few relics from next era in our trip back through the timeline, once again showing a link between the different eras. I'll show you the full display case during the next art post, where I introduce the third era we'll explore as Dan Guymore.

So that's a sneak peak at the 60's era. We still have two more era's planned for the final release, but let's take things one at a time. Until next time, see you later.